It is said that wisdom comes with age. Should young people always respect and obey their elders?

It is all good to generalise that young people should always respect and obey the older folks. However, in real life, respect and obedience sometimes are considered two different things. In my opinion, we must respect seniority as they have years of experience as compared to youngsters. As for obedience, I think that we should obey only if we are convinced that what we are being asked to do is right.

We have been taught that we should respect those older than ourselves, such as our parents, grandparents and teachers. We should give them due respect by greeting them, helping them around, by being polite and listening to their point of views, as age is the best teacher. These little gestures mean a lot to elders and do not require a great deal of effort from us.

However, obedience is when we submit to our elders’ authority, which may not always be right. Still if we do as they say, it would be blind obedience, which I highly disapprove. Using our common sense, we sometimes disagree with our elders and do what we feel is right.

Wisdom comes with age and experience, be it our teachers, grandparents or someone we are close to. We respect our elders as we trust them, knowing that they would never let us go astray. They provide us with solid advice on many things that may help in life or guide us due to which we are bound to show them respect. They may teach us not to take our family for granted, or to always share our emotions and not to bottle them up inside. However, due to generation gap and opinions colliding, we youngsters may not always do as they say. We question the motive and not obey the advice which opposes our thinking.

We listen to their advice respectfully, but, in the end, the decision is ours — such as the time when my grandparents told me how they really wanted me to become a doctor and how beneficial it was for the whole family as they can enjoy free medical service at all times.

In addition, as they were aging, they did need medical help to keep track of their sugar level and blood pressure. However, it was my dream to become an architect and interior designer. They had taught me how to not be afraid to fail at anything that we chose in life.

So after listening to their advice and point of view, I took up pre-medical subjects in school but, in the end, I did as I had wished. I worked tirelessly, studied harder and entered in my ideal profession. This way, I did not completely obey them, yet, I did learn the basics of what my grandparents wanted. I also did what I had wished for.

In conclusion, we must respect those older than us. However, we should discern between our dreams and the wishes of our elders before we carry out their instructions. We should obey depending on the situation and circumstances, and not compromise on our dreams.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 26th, 2022